First Pitch Friday has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? That should be a thing. BA and PG should get on that.

While they do that I’ll start the week with 111 words of whining. Skip down past the first set of stars if you don’t want to hear me bitching about something only ten or so people (give or take) in the entire world care about. Here we go…

Today is Monday. As of late Sunday night, the following teams still did not have 2014 rosters posted on their official websites:

Mississippi State

Oregon

UC Davis

South Alabama

Samford

Alcorn State

Prairie View A&M

Central Connecticut State

North Carolina Central

Savannah State

Come on, guys! Get with the program here. I only found one recent team’s roster by changing the standard roster page to a headshot view and then manually manipulating the URL to update the year. Not sure if that means the roster wasn’t ready to go live or what, but, man, why make things so difficult for somebody who just wants to know who will be on your team?

*****

Every year I lose track of players that remain draft-eligible yet no longer show up on their respective university’s roster. Players listed below are lined up with their last known school and their 2013 season class designation. I know it’s a long shot, but does anybody out there know where any of these players wound up?

As I finish up the position players in the coming days I figure it couldn’t hurt to spitball a bit about some of the names that have stood out to me so far. We’ll kick off the week talking college catchers because…why not?

The ACC has three excellent catching prospects in Virginia Tech JR Mark Zagunis, Clemson JR Garrett Boulware, and North Carolina State JR Brett Austin. The mid-tier ain’t too shabby either, thanks to Miami JR Garrett Kennedy and Virginia C Nate Irving. I haven’t gone through every conference yet, but it’s pretty amazing that those five currently rank higher (for me) than any other catcher in the Big 12, Big 10, or the Missouri Valley. Top guys in those conferences for the curious: Jacob Felts, Blaise Salter, and Tyler Baker. It’s also a really strong year behind the plate for the slightly evolved (for the better, I think) Conference USA. Juniors Aramis Garcia (Florida International), John Clay Reeves (Rice), and Bre’shon Kimbell (Louisiana Tech) all currently reside in my admittedly unfinished top eight for the position.

If we’re going off the radar a bit, I’ll throw out the names Alex Real (New Mexico), Garrett Russini (Stetson), and Kyle Pollock (Evansville) as potential risers this spring. The tail end of the list, as it seems happens yearly, is loaded with potential senior signs that haven’t put it all together yet in college ball. These guys frustrate me, but I just can’t quite bring myself to rule out that one big season that finally gets them a shot in pro ball. We’re talking Kai’ana Eldredge (Kansas), Levi Meyer (Florida Atlantic), Kyle Gibson (Louisville), and Austin Jarvis (Bradley).

Good stuff, thanks again. Had the 6-6, 200 pound Moriarty with a big league average fastball and plus slider, so hopefully he reconsiders. I have two more names for you that I haven’t found anything on: Oregon rFR RHP Sam Johnson and Arizona FR RHP Jesse Scholtens. Johnson has had lots of arm trouble, so he might be done for. Couldn’t find anything on Scholtens outside of his, ahem, colorful political observations on Twitter.

That’s it. I’m done. Last two names unaccounted for. College database is finished. Now it’s time to start writing…

As for Sam Johnson, could he be redshirting? Because this link is awfully recent, past when cuts would’ve happened, and makes it look like he’s still with the team even if he isn’t listed on the roster: